This is SOUND ADVICE, the place where the friends, rivals, and romantic interests of Interview share their personal playlists. Recent editions have included collections assembled by 1LDK, Kylie Cantrall, and Anok Yai. Taking over this week is electronic alternative rock group Soulwax, the influential Belgian brothers celebrated for their precise remixes and irresistible dance rhythms. Ahead of their forthcoming autumn tour, the pair created the music for a short film promoting Reebok and IDEA’s collaborative sneaker, the Club C 85. Filled with driving synthesizers and smooth, relaxed grooves, the finished soundtrack complements the footwear’s unexpected pairing of a simple design with luminous details that shine in darkness. In honor of the sneaker’s arrival, Soulwax gathered a selection of beloved songs and answered questions from Interview about growing up in Ghent, the film scores they admire most, and how mutual boredom unexpectedly brought the project to life.
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If your discography were a marathon, which track is the final sprint?
Maybe our remix for Charlotte Gainsbourg?
Name your favorite artist no one knows about:
Our studio assistant is called Pim and he recently, finally, played us some of the music he is making and it’s killer. He goes under the name of P.I.M. and, hopefully, next year it will be out.
What’s your biggest pet peeve while performing?
People who come to dance. How dare they!
Dream collaboration, dead or alive?
William Klein, Barbara Hulanicki, David Lee Roth, Peter Shire.
What’s the best part about making music as siblings?
That we can blame everything on the same parents.
Favorite movie soundtrack?
Rumble Fish by Stewart Copeland
Attempt to settle the debate: Where did electronic music originate?
Who knows, but electronic music as we know it probably started in Düsseldorf with Kraftwerk. The real question is: where will it die?
Which city rides the hardest for Soulwax?
Mexico City for some reason, not complaining.
What decade are you most nostalgic for?
The 1920s.
Describe the Soulwax sound in three words:
Quiet, loud, over.
What’s a song you wish you produced?
Not one song, but all of the Smylonylon tapes!
What’s the most Ghent thing about you?
That we eat waffles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Thoughts on the electronic music scene today?
Booooooooooring.
Favorite part about collaborating with IDEA?
Probably that they will get bored even faster than we do. We share an aesthetic, a fascination with certain unpopular corners of pop culture, and a healthy wariness of people who take themselves seriously, and have done so for almost two decades. They are the best and we were honored to be asked to be involved in this crazy project.
